Last week I did something a little radical, defying a social norm so insidious I didn’t even realize it existed until I was face-to-face with it. In broad daylight, with the full attention of my neighbours, I spent an afternoon picking up trash.

Salmon have been an integral part of Canada's identity, but the Lake Ontario of today is a pale reflection of its historic self, once containing fish we might have saved with the benefit of forethought.